+ifluctuate Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 I'm brand new to geocaching I've gone through the FAQ and can't find an answer to my question. I have a Garmin Nuvi 255 for my car ... is there a way to use it to find coordinates or do I need something better? I don't see anything in the instructions, and haven't found it on online searches. Quote Link to comment
+Gitchee-Gummee Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Quite a few use in-car units, but mostly for driving to (near the cache), then striking out with their handheld. It will work, but has a number of drawbacks. I believe all Nuvis are capable of accepting coordinates, some by hand but many via direct hook-up with the computer. Some of the drawbacks: battery life; not waterproof/resistant; not very shock-proof; and not real comfortable to walk around with it in-hand (conducive to dropping it). Some models lack a compass screen (dunno about the 255). As far as the instructions go... well, none of today's electronic gadgets come with true "beginner" directions. You just gotta play with it and figure it out. Our 1400 allows hand input from an icon selection that resembles a globe. It also will load directly via computer hook-up. Again, it'll work, but isn't the best choice. Good luck. Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Gitchee-Gummee pretty much nailed it. You can use your Nuvi to find geocaches, but I liken it to playing tennis with a baseball bat. It can be done, but there is a better tool for the job. For geocaching that tool is a handheld GPS. Quote Link to comment
+dwayne23 Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 I use the 255 to take me to the area then use my hand held to do the rest. You can load files to the 255 using a point of interest down loader from the garmin web site. I loaded 700 on mine today using a pocket queries. Quote Link to comment
+ifluctuate Posted January 21, 2012 Author Share Posted January 21, 2012 I use the 255 to take me to the area then use my hand held to do the rest. You can load files to the 255 using a point of interest down loader from the garmin web site. I loaded 700 on mine today using a pocket queries. thank you for your help. Someone PM'd me and showed me exactly how to get the coordinates. Hopefully I'll eventually get something better, but I'll try it this way until then Quote Link to comment
+Lieblweb Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Do some research on the *POI LOADER* It'll put the geocaches in your NUVI as POI's (points of interest). Our Nuvi has about 5000 POI's in it (geocaches). When we're heading out to an area, we search a geocache (Extra, POI) and click GO. It'll take us within parking distance of the cache. After we're parking - we'll use handheld or phones. Quote Link to comment
+DadOf6Furrballs Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 We started out with that same Nuvi, but gave up chasing numbers on the screen after about 3 caches. Went and bought a cheapo yellow Etrex, and that lasted us for about 2 years before we found a great deal on an Oregon last summer. We still use the Nuvi for basic navigation, plus I load it up with the POI files of where we will be headed. Like others have mentioned, tt makes it easy getting to the cache with the "recalculating" lady giving us directions to get us close, then we fire up the hand held for the rest of the hunt. Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Do some research on the *POI LOADER* It'll put the geocaches in your NUVI as POI's (points of interest). Our Nuvi has about 5000 POI's in it (geocaches). When we're heading out to an area, we search a geocache (Extra, POI) and click GO. It'll take us within parking distance of the cache. After we're parking - we'll use handheld or phones. The only problem with using the POI loader is that POIs don't show on the map screen until you are zoomed way in. At least that's the way it is with my Nuvi. Quote Link to comment
+Cache-n-Canary Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 We have been caching since September of 2009 and have only used a Garmin Nuvi 200, and we have over 350 finds so far.I did a lot of research on "paperless caching" and found several ways to use the Nuvi. Check out this link. http://geocaching.totaltechworld.com/# We have thousands of caches loaded into our Garmin and find it very perfect for our use, but then again we live in a very urban area. We have the entire description, hints and the 5 most recent logs. We do have a premium account as well as an account with GSAK in order to make this all work. The map gets us close to the cache, and then we use the "Where am I?" feature on the Garmin that gives us our coordinates to get to GZ. We will upgrade someday in order to have longer battery life, but for now it works for us. Quote Link to comment
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